Five-bed facility will realize community’s longtime ‘dream’ of ‘culturally relevant’ palliative care.

By J.P. AntonacciLocal Journalism Initiative Reporter

NationTalk: The Hamilton Spectator – Canada’s most populous First Nation plans to build the country’s first Indigenous-led community hospice.

On Wednesday, Six Nations of the Grand River unveiled its vision for a five-bed hospice to provide end-of-life care rooted in Haudenosaunee traditions.

“At one of the most sacred times of a person’s life, we will have our own hospice to be able to support our members, their families and loved ones, as they complete their journey on earth,” said Debra Jonathan, director of well-being with Six Nations Health Services.

“It will be done respecting our ways and their wishes, to ensure their next journey is a peaceful one.”

The approximately 11,000-square-foot hospice will be “nestled within a wooded area on Fourth Line,” Jonathan said, and feature large indoor and outdoor spaces where friends and family can gather with loved ones to hold Haudenosaunee ceremonies and be together in their final days.

As part of a pledge to provide what Six Nations Health Services calls “culturally relevant” care, the new hospice will host bereavement workshops, welcome traditional healers, elders and knowledge keepers to work alongside clinical staff, and offer traditional medicines and practices to alleviate nausea and pain and help residents relax.

“Our commitment is that it will be a welcoming and serene environment, providing peace and tranquility to patients, their families and friends,” Jonathan said.

Six Nations has budgeted $6.5 million to build the hospice, which Jonathan hopes will open by early 2027.

Six Nations Elected Council earmarked more than $5 million for the project, and Health Minister Sylvia Jones committed a further $1.25 million from the province during Wednesday’s announcement at White Pines Health Centre in downtown Ohsweken.

“There is no doubt that there is a lot of excitement about moving forward with this project,” Jones said while congratulating community members who have spent more than a decade pushing for a hospice on the reserve.

“Because of your advocacy, this new five-bed hospice will be the first Indigenous-led, operated and on-reserve hospice in Canada,” Jones said.

Jonathan said the desire for a bricks-and-mortar hospice came out of a 2011 community needs assessment survey that found band members wanted the “familiarity and comfort” of staying on the reserve and receiving culturally appropriate palliative care with “frequent access” to family and friends.

“Death is understood as a part of the cycle of life — the time when we return to the Creator,” Jonathan said.

“Our community has told us that we need to regain our acceptance of death and dying, and we need to help each other through this transition and provide supportive care.”

She credited the “unwavering persistence and resilience” of community members who have supported the “dream” of a hospice.

While Six Nations currently offers home-based palliative care, Jonathan told The Spectator some band members end up at hospices off the reserve.

“The need is that people want to be home,” she said.

“It’s not just the traditional supports that they’re longing for. It’s the ability to have family members with them throughout the process.”

James Weening, a design consultant with True North Log Homes, said designing the hospice was a “passion project” for the Muskoka-based company, which previously designed and built the luxury log cabins in Chiefswood Park in Ohsweken.

“I was humbled to be part of it,” Weening told The Spectator, adding the design reflects his conversations with health officials and community members about how to tailor the hospice to Haudenosaunee cultural needs.

The design aims for “a traditional and very warm feeling to the structure,” Weening said, a feeling helped by the use of white pine logs and exposed wood.

The building is slated to include a small pharmacy and spaces for hands-on medical care and psychological counselling, Weening said.

Brantford-Brant MPP Will Bouma, whose riding includes Six Nations, said the capital funding from the province — which would be followed by annual operating funds once the hospice opens — is a small way to repair the relationship between Six Nations and the Crown “so that the communities can go together in the same direction, in prosperity, and not crossing each other.”

Six Nations councillor Amos Key Jr. thanked the Ford government for supporting the hospice and seized the moment to pitch several other big-ticket health-care needs on the reserve, including a “state-of-the-art diagnostic centre,” a new medical centre, and a Haudenosaunee medical officer of health.

In an interview, Key called the provincial funding for the hospice “historic and auspicious.”

“I think it’s about time. We’ve been here for 240 years,” Key told The Spectator.

“We live in this province too. I’m glad we’re having a new relationship with the province.”

J.P. Antonacci’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about the regions of Haldimand and Norfolk. Reach him at jpantonacci@thespec.com.